


Life After Losing You

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: Orenda [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-05 02:59:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: Needless to say, it took a long time to adjust to Gabriel's absence.





	Life After Losing You

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: Welcome back. Some people were distraught about Gabriel's death, so here's the tentatively promised part two. So a few things before we begin. First, almost everyone in this story is de-aged by twelve years, in case you didn't get that from the kids' ages from last chapter. Also, I read recently that Jack's current age was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2016?? Idk how true that is, because I wasn't there and I can't really find anything on it, but I'm gonna use that as a basis, anyway. So in this story, Jack starts out at age 43 and Gabe starts at 46 (since, due to Retribution, we know that Gabe is canonically 58). The only ones who would keep their canon ages in this story are Winston and Zenyatta because I wouldn't want them to be children, especially if I include any background pairings like Genyatta. And on a final note, since Jack's pov wasn't in the first part, you should know that I'm using the headcanon of Jack being [mostly] blind.**

Needless to say, it took a long time to adjust to Gabriel's absence.

  


When Jack had received the news, not even two hours after his (final) call from Gabe, it took every ounce of strength he possessed to not fall into pieces right then and there. His youngest three had immediately asked him what was wrong when he gathered himself enough to break the tragedy to them, but the oldest duo – Gabe's children from before they'd even begun dating – were absolutely silent. He knew that they knew – or at least, had an idea about what he had to say –, yet they remained in the room, stone-faced, as he managed to choke out, “Gabe saved a kid, not much older than you, Hana, but … he didn't make it out.”

The silence swelled like a tsunami, and though Jack couldn't make out any of their expressions, he could feel the pain and disbelief permeating the air. Hana broke first with a gasping sob that evolved into full-lunged wailing. Jamison wasn't far behind, and Jack heard Jesse and Olivia attempting to console their siblings, despite the tremors in their voices, while he just stood there, feeling a painfully cold, numbing grip encasing his heart. Shadows shifted in his limited vision and he heard sniffling before a thin arm snaked around his waist, a hand – trembling and coated in a layer of cold swear – slipped into one of his.

“Dad...?” Lena whispered. 

Tears finally escaped from his eyes, though he didn't make a sound, almost drowning in the cadence of his childrens' sorrow.

  


The funeral wasn't as solemn an event as Jack expected. Every one of Jack and Gabe's friends from the military made an appearance, whether they were nearby (like Ana, Reinhardt, and Torbjörn, who lived in the same city) or in completely different countries (like Akande, who lived in Numbani, and Mako, who made the journey from Australia). Fareeha, Ana's only child, and Brigitte, Torbjörn's youngest (and the only one of the Lindholm children to really take a liking to Gabriel), accompanied their parents. Even Hanzo and Genji Shimada, Jesse's fiancé and best friend respectively, showed up to pay their respects. Winston and Angela were the last to arrive, the former a busy military scientist and the latter a busy doctor. As his kids scattered to greet their extended family with varying amounts of enthusiasm, Angela same to Jack and hugged him tightly.

“I'm so sorry,” she whispered. When she pulled back, her eyes were gleaming with tears. Angela was one of the doctors present to announce Gabriel's death, and she'd advised Jack to have a closed-casket funeral.

“It's not your fault,” he assured her, offering a sliver of a smile, though she only looked guiltier as she went to greet the others.

Everyone present for the funeral had a small farewell speech to give, and Jack wished Gabe could see how much he meant to them. Everyone that had come would be around for one to three weeks, depending on if they lived a few hours' drive or a few hours' flight away, so there were a lot of outings with the kids to help distract them from the pain of losing Gabriel. (It also gave Jack time alone to grieve.) On the last day of everyone being in the same area, they went out to dinner and ended it with a toast (of soda, for the kids) of the life Gabriel had lived.

Fareeha and Brigitte stayed at Jack's place that night, while McCree returned to the Shimada's home (where he lived, for the most part). After sending the younger children to bed and retiring for the night himself, Jack sat on the edge of his too-empty mattress, staring blankly out the window. A few hours passed in heavy silence before the door creaked open and he heard Jamison's makeshift leg clicking as the blond hobbled over to the bed.

Jamie barely spoke since the funeral, and he didn't speak now as he climbed onto the bed, leaning against Jack, who wrapped his arm around the boy. Lena joined them about ten minutes, leading a tired Hana in by the hand. Jack had no choice but to actually get on the bed properly so his kids could sleep. Hana was laying on his chest, Jamie to his right and Lena to his left. His arms were wound snugly around them as they slept, and he was pretty sure Olivia peered into the room at some point before she left again. (Olivia had given up her bed for Brigitte and was staying on the pullout couch in the living room with Fareeha.) Jack sighed, closing his eyes and finally allowing himself to drift off. For the first time since Gabe's death, he didn't wake up because the room was too empty.

  


\- - -

  


He came careening back into life suddenly and accompanied by a lot of pain. He didn't understand how he knew he was dead mere seconds before, but he had been, and now he was alive. But something was wrong. The fact that his lungs weren't working, yet the tight sensation of suffocating wasn't effecting him, was the most prominent issue. He could feel his heart beating sluggishly and arrhythmically, as if it could stop at any second. (In the back of his mind, he also knew that he should find his situation more concerning, but the panic just wasn't coming.) The only sensations that were registering was the cold surrounding him and the indescribable pain he was in, as if every inch of him – down to his very _soul_ – was on the edge of dissolving into nothing.

He laid motionless on the uncomfortably bumpy surface beneath him for an indeterminate amount of time, taking experimental breaths and growing frustrated with how difficult it was to perform what used to be a normal, automatic bodily function, before he heard something aside from his forced wheezing: shoes clacking against the floor, and steadily growing louder. The sound was muffled, likely by the door of wherever he was, then it stopped.

A moment later, there was a click, then through what sounded like speakers, a woman's voice spoke to him. _“Are you awake, Mr. Reyes?”_

He felt no recognition towards what was no doubt his name, but he attempted to respond anyway. When he opened his mouth, nothing came out, not even an exhale. (He'd never noticed just how necessary air was when it came to speaking.) That was when he finally opened his eyes. For some reason, he was expecting to be blinded by lights, but the room was pleasantly dark – he could make out everything (not that there was really anything to look at), but it wasn't bright enough to hurt. He sat up on the mattress, which was the only item within the walls with him. Across from him was a mirror – _a two-way mirror,_ his mind whispered.

_“Oh, good. It appears the procedure has finally taken.”_ Then quieter, as if speaking to herself, the woman added, _“Subject: 24's nanites have successfully restarted his brain. No intelligent response incoming as of this moment.”_

He stood, sight swimming and knees buckling under his weight, though he managed to sit himself on the edge of the bed before he could collapse onto the floor. When his vision cleared, he tried again. This time he managed to stay on his feet and even stumble towards the mirror, though he had to brace a hand on the wall next to the glass. 

His reflection gave way to the image of a tall, thin woman with short orange hair. A tablet sat in her hand, fingers posed over the screen. She offered a thin-lipped smile that reminded him of a cat toying with a canary.

_“Mr. Reyes, do you understand what I'm saying?”_

His second attempt at speaking went the same as the first, so he settled for nodding. She typed something on the tablet and without looking up, said, _“I'm Moira O'Deorain. You and I have a lot to discuss, and much work to do.”_

Moira explained to him that he died in an unfortunate accident and that she had been working for years on a version of nanite technology that could bring a person back from the dead. While he was in the military, he had been whitelisted to take part in this experiment in case anything happened to him. He was the only male subject out of twenty-four (so far) that the nanites worked on.

_“I'll be working with you to re-tune your body. Think of it as physical therapy. Understand?”_ Gabriel nodded again. _“Good.”_ Moira gave him another smile. _“Do you have any questions?”_

He forced his lungs full of air. “Why don't I remember anything?” he managed to rasp. The question had been sitting on the tip of his tongue since he woke, but only now was it at the forefront of his mind. He didn't even know what his whole name was.

_“The nanites have repaired your brain to the best of their current ability. I can't be certain that you will ever recover your memories, but that will be a topic to broach at a later date. I'm sorry, Mr. Reyes.”_

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: Okay, so here's how I want this to go. This story is going to be about six chapters, give or take a couple, and each chapter is going to follow the kids (Hana, Sombra, Jesse, Jamie, and Lena) as their lives continue on without Gabe. The overall plan is that the reunion with Gabe happens ten years after his death, so I want everyone to know what the kids did during that time and where they are when he returns. And as for Jack, I may or may not do a chapter for him, too, but I'm also going to be focusing on him when Gabe returns, so, we'll see.**
> 
>  
> 
> _Prompt: I thought you died in that accident, but it turns out you just forgot all about me._


End file.
